In a game, there are different kinds of people. I’m one of those people who would always choose "easy" mode from the very start.
A bug must’ve come up, but somehow Karma crashed on me and I arrived in difficult mode.
It isn’t a game or anything, but I had this on my mind when I crossed over. Nothing big happened when I suddenly found myself in this world, no accidents or anything, but I just crossed over after sleeping, tired of making my thesis, or should I say "our" thesis. I was the leader, and the other members were irresponsible, so I had to do the work. All the credit would still be equally given to each one, though. I don’t like blaming others since it was easy to do it all by myself. Back to what I was saying:
Saying "difficult" is not far from my situation. When I opened my eyes, I was in a dark alley, lying on the dirty ground with my body not being able to show any kind of strength. The only light seen was at the end of the alley with people passing by. I couldn’t think much and fell asleep. Was it due to starvation or was I just too exhausted to move?
When I awoke, I was still in the same position, but seeing the rays of the sun, it was the afternoon. The hot rays were hitting half my body, but at least there was still some shade because of the buildings. I'm not sure where the little strength came from, but I was able to drag myself all the way to the end of the alley, where I could finally see where I was.
I slid myself to the end of the building alley, not too visible nor too inconspicuous.People walked by and the place was full of activity. I was squinting my eyes because the brightness was hurting my eyes.
Maybe seeing me look like a poor starved dog, one passerby threw their half-finished bread, and seeing it fall on the dirty ground, all I could think was "shit".
I was thinking that I should not be dreaming and that this won’t end anytime soon. Thinking of my survival, I should be able to get a little bit of strength by eating this. I planned on dusting it off first, but smelling the smell of bread, I ate it so fast that I never thought I could eat it like that my whole life.
I was a little thirsty, but seeing my choices, I could only swallow my own saliva again and again to ease my dry throat. I was still on the side of the road when I fell asleep again without realizing it. This time, when I awoke, it was already night. Shivering from the cold and only a few people walking down the road, I was hugging myself, thinking it would stop my shivering, but with my thin clothes coupled with my state, it was hopeless.
At that time, it was the morning, and seeing the leftover things on my hands, I really thought, "ah, I really am desperate."
I saw moss and mushrooms growing at the corners of the building, and somehow, maybe at night, I moved unconsciously and finished these things. I began to gag and vomit everything I had eaten. There wasn’t anything in my vomit but just a bunch of moss and small bits of the dirty mushroom, and the puddle may have contained my bile. I wiped my face with my hand and felt that it was smeared on the side of my face, but I didn’t care.
I started standing up and was trembling while doing so. Finally, in the middle of the road, I was squinting my eyes, and they were a little itchy. Everyone on the road would avoid me. I walked aimlessly and felt like fainting, but somehow, I was still able to hold my ground and stand still.
Some of them would avoid me and some would look at me with scorn, but I didn't care. In my peripheral view, something caught my attention. It was a dirty, small, malnourished child asking for food from the vendor. The vendor shooed the child away, but another kid saw this as an opportunity while the vendor was distracted and stole some of the food displayed in his stall. Seeing that some of the thieves ran away, the vendor could only vent his anger on the child that was begging earlier for food. As if beating the child wasn’t enough, his eyes landed on me and said, "Are you here to rob my goods too?" "You filthy, shameless shits are only stealing and dirtying this street's scram!" he says. He kept cursing while going back to his stall.
Walking slowly towards the child beaten to the ground, its face was full of blood that made me think its bones would be disfigured.
Perhaps because of malnutrition, the weight was so light that I mistook it for my school bag. Putting the dirty child on my back, I came up with a thought and said, "That isn’t such a bad idea."
Firmly placing the other on my back, I grabbed a few pieces of bread from the vendors' store and ran quickly as if my life depended on it. The vendor screamed and tried to chase me, but I soon found myself swallowed by the crowd. Other people weren’t chasing us either, as if it was all the vendors' problem. With that, I ran quickly while holding the bread closely to my chest and using the other hand to support the person at the back.
The person at my back seemed to regain consciousness after a little while and whispered to my ear, "turn to your right."
Following what the other said, we arrived at an alley. Turning a few more turns, we somehow arrived at some kind of hideout.
Pushing the dirty curtains that covered the entrance to what seemed like an abandoned building, the kids we saw earlier were also there.
A kid noticed us first and called, "I thought you were dead back there, it's because you were so slow!"
I didn’t care what their relationship was, but I just saved the kid, so the kid wouldn't be beaten twice. When I turned to face the others, I placed the child on my back on the ground, and I tried to speak, but all that came out was a dry cough.
Because it was difficult to speak, I simply motioned for water while pointing to the pile of food in my chest.
The one on the side seemed to understand this and handed me a bottle with only half in it. I was left with only one piece of bread and half of the dirty water that the other had given me. I soon ate it all quickly and left.
I quickly learned to adapt, and for me to survive in this kind of situation, I had to do that thing again. Moving from one vendor to another, they couldn’t catch me as I was too calculating. "Dumbasses," I thought, but still, I was able to fill my stomach.
Other brats would see me carrying more food than they did and would corner me in an alley. Too bad I wasn’t merciful either. Grabbing a block of cement from the side, I would smash their heads one by one until none would dare come near me.
I was beginning to believe that I was slowly becoming a savage, unlike the one I had been in modern society. I didn’t care though, and continued my actions.
One night in an abandoned building, it was silent and I was on the top floor. There was no light. Only the small lamps on the streets below, and I was thinking about what kind of place I went to, as I didn’t remember reading or playing a story like this.
This dragged on for a couple of weeks, and finally people knew about my face and all my "robbing the stall" things. So, I had to find another place.
Wagons weren’t uncommon, and I saw another one passing through the village. The clerk was doing business in a shop and placed all the box crates containing some sort of stuff. It smells like food. Sneakingly watching him finish carrying it to his wagon, he got into the drivers' seat, a sign that he was ready to take off. As swiftly and quietly as I could, I walked to the carriage and covered myself with the boxes. He would make stops at various towns, but as dumb as he was, he didn’t see me at all. He would stop in the village regularly to deliver food and other things, but he would sleep in the middle of the road and light bonfires to keep himself warm on the cold nights.
I was also noticing that, while the cold was still bothering me, it wasn't as bad as it had been when I was in the alleys. We continued the journey, and I continued eating the crate of apples in the back.
Somehow we landed in a remote village with mountains surrounding it, so I decided I might steal some stuff here again and move on to the next village like clockwork.
Up to this point, I wasn’t in a hurry and I wasn’t hungry either thanks to the apples, so I found an alley to sleep in because I couldn’t see any abandoned buildings in the small village. Everything was occupied and up to this point, I wasn’t picky either.
Pulling the crates and boxes together in the alley, I made a little nest for the day and drifted to dreamland.
It had been a long time since I slept this well. The pillow was so soft and warm that I didn’t want to open my eyes. Wait, Pillow?
Feeling that I was floating on the ground and someone was carrying me, I started to struggle and hit this pervert who kidnapped me. Hearing soft chuckles, the person carrying me was a woman. She said, "If you don’t have a home to go to, you can stay with us for a while. It won't bother you to sleep on a comfortable bed rather than in an alley, right?"
............Is this kindness coming from nowhere, or am I about to be transported to a strange place?Fuckkk.
But before I could react, I was already inside a house and children wearing pajamas were looking curiously in my direction. A base for kidnapped children?!!I struggled again but was unable to move. (Her thoughts) "can’t move!, this gorilla woman, too strong!"
She washed me up in some room with a barrel of water. She didn’t even heat the water but immediately poured it on me. Cleaning every inch, although I was shivering, it was the first time in a while I took a bath. After clothing me, she carried me again on the table. This time the children, who were just curiously looking at the side, all circled the table as if I was some kind of alien creature. The lady started making me eat shit, I mean vegetables. One gulp after another, I felt like I was about to vomit, not because I was disgusted by the food but by the amount of it.
The lady must have sensed something and told me to "eat, you are too thin."
...."Your name? What is it, can you tell me? "
.. name? I forgot my name in my past life.. no one calls me anything besides scum, brat, thief. "I-I don’t have one"
Listening to this, the lady smiled and said, "Then from now on, your name will be Sylvie."
And just like that, I started living in this orphanage where there was free food and stuff. I was grateful to the lady for taking me in, and my personality somehow got back to the way it was when I was still in the modern world.
I lived with the children for months until another kid was taken to the orphanage by the housemother again.
Seeing that hairstyle with white hair as bangs and black hair at the back, would this unique appearance be the protagonist? For the time being, I might as well treat her nicely.
